After all that in the last post I forgot to ask the question I logged on to ask in the first place...
For the simple function of a timer, ex: when the accessory is triggered it stays turned for some amount of time afterward, what is the time range that needs to be covered? It will be adjustable in any case, but what's the maximum amount of time one would want an accessory to remain on? Does anyone know what sort of times products like the ITAD or 153IR give?
Serenska, I think I agree with everything you said there. My target audience at this point is going to be the non-technically inclined folks looking for an easy to hook up, ready to go, solution. I think the instructions may end up more complex than some people would like, but I think as long as the specific instructions on setting up any one function are clear and easy to follow I'll be ok. My goal would be to have a product that requires no special skills from the user, even to use the more complex functions, but I'll add a disclaimer that some functions may be more difficult to implement than others. As I wrote down the list of options we have so far it looks like almost everything can be done with no more than 8 wires connecting to the board, usually less, and adjustments should be possible with a row of DIP switches and a couple multi-turn potentiometers on the board. I'm still kicking around several details on that.
On the crossing flashers I'm curious about prototypical operation. I can't recall ever noticing one way or the other here. on real signals do the lights flip-flop without delay, ex: right on, left off one moment, and the next moment right off, left on? Or is there a delay between where both lights are off before the opposite light turns on? It doesn't effect the hardware needed but changes the programing behind it.
On the duration, my plan at this point is to allow the user to adjust them to whatever speed they like.
GaryE, I'm curious what is different in a double track crossing than a single? When it comes to real railroads I'm pretty clueless. Also, what so you mean by "slow on/off blink"?
There are lots of folks offering many very speciffic products and I'm not looking replace them either. Mostly I'm hoping to offer an option for some functions that don't exist elsewhere, but some of the functions that do are too east to incorporate not to do so, since all the parts are already there.
Touching on a couple things I forgot to respond to above,
RTR, I'm glad you enjoy following along with the various projects. For me the tinkering has always been the fun part. I can watch a train do laps for a while, but sooner or later I want to take something apart or put something together.
Andy b, My thought was that you would need a wifi module for each device that you wanted access to the extra features on. This way one of those features could be allowing several modules talk to each other if you wanted. That said, there is no reason things couldn't be set up where the module would continue to work properly if the wifi module was removed after set-up if continuing communication isn't needed. As for the actual method of connection I would probably go with the simple route here, with the module acting as a access point. You would choose the wireless network from those available that corresponds to that device. I think this may be overly complex for what is needed, but seems the best way so far to import fine tuning data. As a side note, bluetooth is off the table at this point, for a couple reasons, first BLE modules cost twice as much as wifi modules at the moment, and second, as this is intended to end up as a product offered for sale some day, I'm not looking to have to license the rights to use the name BlueTooth.
Anyway, That's all I can think of for now.
JGL
